[CREATURE, PEACH] Waving gently in the current...

[SlaadLord]

Anemone Man
Large Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 8d8 + 32 (68 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft., Swim 30 ft.
AC: 14, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+4 natural, +1 Dex, -1 size)
Base Attack/ Grapple: +8/+21
Attack: Spear +13 melee (2d6 + 5/x3) or unarmed strike +12 melee (1d4 + 5)
Full Attack: Spear +13/+8 melee (2d6 + 5/x3) or unarmed strike +12/+7 melee (1d4 + 5)
Space/Reach: 10ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Poison, Tentacle Crown
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., amphibious, Immune to poison, all-around vision
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +2, Will +6
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 7
Skills: Listen +11, Search +4, Spot +15, Swim +5
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Weapon Focus (Spear)
Challenge Rating: 7
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: By character class, favored class Fighter
Level Adjustment: +2

Anemone men appear to be eight-foot-tall, stocky human men whose head has been replaced by a writhing sea anemone. They usually wear short, loose leggings that do not interfere with swimming. They carry spears. Anemone men speak Aquan and understand Common.

Combat
Anemone men use simple tactics. They enter melee with their spears drawn. If they mean to take prisoners, they grapple with their opponents, then attack with their heads of waving tentacles until their opponents succumb to their poison.
Tentacle Crown (Ex): Anemone men that grapple opponents can use their poisonous tentacles against that opponent as a standard action. They make a touch attack with a +7 bonus; success deals no damage to the grappled opponent, but subjects them to the Anemone man’s poison.
Poison (Ex): Tentacle Crown attack; contact, Fortitude DC 18, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Dex. The save DC is Constitution based.
All-Around Vision (Ex): Anemone men cannot be flanked and gain a +4 racial bonus to Spot and Search checks.

[The Tygre]

I've got it: Their spellcasters have clown fish as familiars or animal companions. Genius brewing HOOOO!

[Kellus]

Neat. Looks good for the most part.

1. What's the Level Adjustment? They are humanoid, after all.
2. Where do you get the attack bonus for the tentacle crown attack? Shouldn't it be the same as a regular melee attack, which is to say +13 for the anemone man shown?
3. Some more fluff might be nice. Is it an entire race of men? How do they propagate?

[SlaadLord]

To The Tygre: ...no comment.

To Kellus:
1: I don't know. +4?
2: It is a secondary natural attack...therefore it is made at a -5 penalty. Whoops, that should make the attack roll +7. Thanks for the /nitpick.
3: Yes, they are all the same gender, but they're only really called anemone men because they don't have any female features. They are sexless and reproduce by budding.

[Debihuman]

To avoid gender confusion, simply call them anemonefolk. I don't think it matters how they reproduce. I have some questions for you. First, how do they eat? That anemone head isn't exactly condusive to eating normal food and they should be strict carnivores. Second, how long can they remain out of water before they dehydrate or need to feed? What kind of vision do they have? Inquiring minds want to know.

When I first saw the header I immediately thought of a medusa-like creature who had anemone tentacles instread of hair but this is even weirder than that. I could so see these in a Call of Cthulhu d20 game, worshipping Dagon and all.

That +4 level adjustment is killer especially since they already have 7 racial hit dice.

Debby

[DracoDei]

You need to put the Amphibious trait in the paragraphs below the stat block.

Consider giving them all around vision since those tentacles probably contain all their sensory organs and can point in any direction.

[SlaadLord]

To Debby: Every race and their mother is called -folk. Also, their physique (although technically sexless) conforms more to the standard of physical prowess more often seen in males. Hence, "-Men". Also Also, I just like how it sounds. So -men stays.

They filter feed. Constantly. One hour of filter feeding in their normal home area is roughly equivalent to a meal. While on land, anemone men cannot eat, and are therefore forced to return to the water before they starve. However, they do not generally find any reason to leave the water.

Because they are amphibious, they technically never "need" to return to the water, but as I stated above, they need to return to the water to eat. It's unknown exactly how they see, but they can do it from almost anywhere on their heads. I'm giving them all-around vision now.

I know nothing of the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

I'm dropping the level adjustment to +2.

To Dracodei: Why do I need to restate the amphibious special quality? It is generally assumed that amphibious means that it can breathe equally well in water or on land.

I think you have a good point about the all-around vision, so I am giving it to them. Thanks for the input.

[Kellus]

2: It is a secondary natural attack...therefore it is made at a -5 penalty. Whoops, that should make the attack roll +7. Thanks for the /nitpick.

Nope, it's not a natural attack. If it was a natural attack like a bite, gore, tentacle, and so one then you would be able to combine it normally with a full attack action and it would be listed in with full attack instead of unarmed strike. In any case, even when you attack normally with a secondary natural attack you only take the -5 penalty (on ALL attack rolls in the pattern) if you're using it in conjunction with a primary weapon. The way you have it written, it's a special attack that requires being in a grapple and a standard action to use. Thus, it should be made at the full Base Attack Bonus, and the full Strength modifier as well unless you want to base it off of Dex or something instead. If you absolutely have to have it at a lower bonus, you'd have to specifically state in the text for Tentacle Crown that an Anemone Man takes a -5 penalty to the attack roll. Also, 13-5 is indeed a +8, not +7.

EDIT: Also, if it's only got a LA of +2 (which I support, since it really doesn't get that much amazing stuff) why not drop the racial hit dice a bit and let it advance by class? That makes it much more conducive to player characters. Then if you wanted one on the same power scale shown here, just have for example an anemone man with four levels of fighter or something.

[SlaadLord]

To Kellus: First of all, there are creatures whose only natural attack is always a secondary attack (like the manta ray). Anemone Men follow this rule. Also, the attack roll is (+8 base attack bonus, +5 Strength, -1 Size, -5 for automatically being a secondary natural attack = +7).

About dropping the racial HD, I'd rather it remain an 8 HD monstrous humanoid with a low LA. I want them to innately be this strong without needing to add class levels. I had them in mind as abnormal allies or enemies of the PCs, but not the PCs themselves. Y'Know?

[Kellus]

Aye, you're entirely right about the secondary attack pattern, and the attack bonus as well. I completely forgot about size modifiers.

However, I would reiterate that Tentacle Crown isn't a secondary natural attack. It's a special attack, and isn't part of the anemone man's normal full attack pattern. Therefore, it's not subject to the normal rules for natural attacks.

Take, for example, the minotaur. It's got a natural gore attack that is a secondary natural attack. It can use its normal gore as a single attack with a +9 bonus. It can also incorporate it into a full attack pattern with a +4 bonus (ie. a -5 penalty). But it also has a special attack called Powerful Charge that requires a charge action and a gore attack. And, of course, since its only making one attack roll it uses a +9 modifier. You generally only incorporate the -5 penalty if it's part of a full attack pattern with other attacks. And since the Tentacle Crown isn't a normal natural attack available to the anemone man in the first place, it's sort of a moot point.

Please don't think I'm nitpicking! It's a really cool race, and I just want to help it be the best it can be!

One way to solve it would be to give it a natural tentacle secondary attack, and just say under Tentacle Crown that if you have someone grappled, you can use the tentacle attack as a touch attack and it inflicts the poison. Otherwise, its just a normal natural weapon. But, of course, do whatever you want.

[SlaadLord]

Aye, you're entirely right about the secondary attack pattern, and the attack bonus as well. I completely forgot about size modifiers.

Size bonuses. They sneak up on everyone.

Please don't think I'm nitpicking! It's a really cool race, and I just want to help it be the best it can be!

The nitpicking helps me make it the best monster it can be. So thanks .

No offense, but I like it the way it is. Also, it's sort of awkward to attack someone potentially two feet shorter than you with a weapon mounted on the top of your head. Hence the -5 penalty. That's the way I like it, and I'm sticking to my guns.

[Kellus]

Fair enough.

If you do give it a Level Adjustment, though, you should at least mention that it advances by character class and give it a favoured class. Even if it's not meant for player use, I assum some DMs would want to have advanced versions of it.

[SlaadLord]

Right. Advancement and Favored Class added.

[Realms of Chaos]

I love the tentacle crown ability because of the imagery that it spawns:

Either they are bashing their heads against adjacent creatures or they move their heads mere inches from the target and let the tentacles do their work.

Either way, the mental image of them bending down to reach a halfling is hilarious.